168 réponses à ce sujet

[thats1evildude]

Let us picture the winner now:

"Oh, I won? I forgot I even entered that contest. I was just killing time until the next Madden game comes out; honestly, I just copy and pasted some stuff off the Wiki. I guess I should get around to playing Dragon Rage one of these days. Is it anything like Call of Duty?"

[DragonRacer]

Approaching the 3-week wait mark...

 

[dcal31]

Now more than a month after the end of the contest, still waiting....

[Heimdall]

I'm kinda hoping they're leaping through some legal hoops right now so they can choose more than the three winners in the original contest description *Fingers crossed*

[DragonRacer]

Yeah, my hope's fading.

[coldwetn0se]

Yeah, my hope's fading.

You and me both, sister.

[Owlfruit Potion]

I'm kinda hoping they're leaping through some legal hoops right now so they can choose more than the three winners in the original contest description *Fingers crossed*

That would be nice, especially since they said they're not looking for "god-tier" items; it would be cool to have more really strange things in the game, and more winners = substantially increased odds there'll be something I'll like enough that it adds some extra replay value* now that DA:I seems to be winding down. (Trying harder not to let my hopes creep up on the obvious other reason to hope for this.) They worked it out for the VO contest, and that had to be a lot more involved legally.

 
And yeah... I wish they'd post an update. I know they said they'd make an announcement when winners had been chosen but it was unclear whether they meant an "OK, winners have been chosen, go check your e-mail!" tweet, or a full-on blog post after the winners had already accepted, etc. At this point I don't want to bug them about it, either, though, and on twitter it looks like they've stopped answering people who do ask.
 
* I wonder how the winning items will turn up in the game? On the one hand, it would probably be cooler for the winners if it's an item you loot in the DLC. But for the rest of us, since the last DLC is seemingly post-game, it would be nice if they went into a store or the Special Delivery box or something, so it's usable for more than just the last few hours of gameplay.

[Heimdall]

 

* I wonder how the winning items will turn up in the game? On the one hand, it would probably be cooler for the winners if it's an item you loot in the DLC. But for the rest of us, since the last DLC is seemingly post-game, it would be nice if they went into a store or the Special Delivery box or something, so it's usable for more than just the last few hours of gameplay.

I'd imagine it came as a special delivery.  This is meant as something fun for fans, I don't think it'd be put in something we'd have to pay for

[Cantina]

I'd imagine it came as a special delivery.  This is meant as something fun for fans, I don't think it'd be put in something we'd have to pay for

 

Very funny.

 

The day E.A does not charge even for a sneeze is the day I am a born again virgin. Be even funnier if the winners had to pay for their own work.

[Bryan Johnson]

Very funny.

 

The day E.A does not charge even for a sneeze is the day I am a born again virgin. Be even funnier if the winners had to pay for their own work.

What about Black Emporium? Or Party Storage

[Dancing_Dolphin]

What about Black Emporium? Or Party Storage

Looks like Cantina's virginity has been restored!

[thats1evildude]

Looks like Cantina's virginity has been restored!

 

 

Someone alert Imshael.

[Cantina]

What about Black Emporium? Or Party Storage

 

Calling that content is an insult.

 

For starters The only thing worth a darn in B.E is the mirror the rest of the place is a joke. They could have easily added a mirror in Skyhold.  As for storage, I see it being as pointless as mounts. Changing your character looks or adding in storage is not free content, its a poor attempt at E.A./Bioware's way of making you feel less like they let you down.

 

Look at the cost of the DLCs. Over-priced. No doubt to make up the loss in their so-called free content.

 

Is it free content from my view point? No. I view it more as content that should have been in the game to start with.

[midnight tea]

Calling that content is an insult.

 

That you don't personally like it is one thing. That you implied that EA would charge money for basically every content they release (and whether you like it or not, this IS free content), no matter how trivial, is another.

 

You were wrong in this particular case - please accept it and move on.

[thats1evildude]

Is it free content from my view point? No. I view it more as content that should have been in the game to start with.

 

But if it was in the base game, wouldn't you then be paying for it?

 

I feel like this is sort of a no-win situation with you.

[Bryan Johnson]

Calling that content is an insult.

 

For starters The only thing worth a darn in B.E is the mirror the rest of the place is a joke. They could have easily added a mirror in Skyhold.  As for storage, I see it being as pointless as mounts. Changing your character looks or adding in storage is not free content, its a poor attempt at E.A./Bioware's way of making you feel less like they let you down.

 

Look at the cost of the DLCs. Over-priced. No doubt to make up the loss in their so-called free content.

 

Is it free content from my view point? No. I view it more as content that should have been in the game to start with.

Your initial post was to make the statement that new items in the game would then be paid content, implies that new items=content. Black Emporium added schematics to the game, schematics are items.

 

You have since changed your argument that calling something that people define as content is an insult. Your statement of it could have been added to skyhold, are you talking pre-release or post-release? Because if you are talking post-release well then it is content now is it.

 

The cost of the DLC is based on the determination of what the perceived value is, some people will see it overpriced but others will see it as under priced. Its a matter of perception. 

 

So what is your definition of free content then? If you argument is also going to be "it should have been there to begin with". Also we have released 7 pieces of Multiplayer DLC across DAI and ME3 that were free (8 if you include darkspawn being included in the last patch).

 

I can see that no matter what is argued though you will simply disagree because your definition of content is vastly different from mine.

[midnight tea]

I see the white knight patrol is out. Guess criticizing is illegal in these forums

 

There's a difference between criticizing and making hyperbolic statements - same with accusing people of 'whiteknighting' or claiming that criticizing is disallowed when there's really no reason for it.

[Conal Pierse]

We have chosen the winners for the contest and will announce them in the next little bit. We're just sorting out a few things behind the scenes first.

[Brass_Buckles]

We have chosen the winners for the contest and will announce them in the next little bit. We're just sorting out a few things behind the scenes first.

 

Thank you for letting us know this, Conal.

[Owlfruit Potion]

We have chosen the winners for the contest and will announce them in the next little bit. We're just sorting out a few things behind the scenes first.

Thanks very much for the update! If you don't mind answering another question: have they already been contacted, or is that part of the behind the scenes things?

[Sealaria]

Woot looking forward to the winning items

[coldwetn0se]

We have chosen the winners for the contest and will announce them in the next little bit. We're just sorting out a few things behind the scenes first.

Out of likes, but thank you for the announcement!

As for the content discussion - BE, storage, and tinter were content to me (and others as well, it seems). If they are not for you, so be it.

[Hrungr]

Untold Relics of Thedas Contest Winners

 

August 27, 2015 by Sean Trayner

In just five short days we received hundreds of entries for our “Untold Relics of Thedas” contest. Among the many wonderful trinkets, trifles, and rare antiquities, four stood out. Each winning entry was chosen for the unique flavor it brought to gameplay, and its potential for encouraging new builds and playstyles with greater risks and rewards.

 

We present to you the winning items, along with some of the backstories our winners provided.

Adam Neisus
Item: Malika’s Guard
Restriction: Rogue Only

• +30% Front Defense
• +20% Attack
• +10 Dexterity
• -50% Flanking damage bonus

Description: This crude, yet distinctive amulet was originally “created” by Regsith, a dwarven warrior not long after the original darkspawn incursions against the dwarven kingdoms. She and her sister, Malika, were members of the Warrior Caste who had developed a pair of different, yet complementary fighting styles that made them impressively effective. They would both charge into the thick of combat for a full frontal assault. Malika, with her polished inlaid axe, massive armor, and equally large shield would strike their target screaming and cursing. Lightly armored and swift Regsith, on the other hand, would slip in under their now-distracted target’s guard and quite literally eviscerate them, eschewing the more common backstab for precise slashes to the belly. Before battle, Malika would call out to her sister, “I’ll grab ’em,” who would respond in turn, “and I’ll gut ‘em.” Their team-up fighting style (and the fact that Regsith was quite terrible at any sort of stealth or subtlety needed for a scouting unit) ensured that they were always assigned to the same unit, proving their worth in engagement after engagement.

 

Eventually, the sisters separated, as Malika felt she wasn’t doing enough against the ever-encroaching darkspawn and volunteered for a special assignment under the Paragon Caridin. Regsith was distraught over this, but eventually bonded with a new golem assigned to their unit, who she called Malika in memory of her departed sister.* Malika the golem used techniques similar to those of Malika of the flesh, albeit altered to benefit from its increased size and resilience. The pair performed as well as ever.

 

Eventually, while on patrol, Regsith’s unit was ambushed by darkspawn and Malika overwhelmed. Seeing her surrogate sister killed, Regsith lashed out at the golem’s killers and tore off a shard from Malika before beating her retreat. Despondent, she hung the shard around her neck with a piece of rough leather cord, and crudely etched upon it with her dagger, “Malika: I’ll keep gutting if you keep grabbing.” After a week alone in the Deep Roads, she returned to the dwarven army and, after some basic treatment from the medics, insisted they send her back out into the thick of it.

 

Seeing as she would otherwise just run off and be killed by a random darkspawn patrol in her pursuit of vengeance, they assigned her to a new unit and hoped this way she would at least kill a few more darkspawn before going down. Instead of scouting or sneaking around, Regsith resumed her standard method of full frontal attack, this time without her partner. However, she did not die—her targets always seemed distracted somehow, giving her an opening. This surprised her comrades, to say the least, and stories came to surround her distinctive necklace with its roughly shaped, yet eerily iridescent pendant. When she eventually died (due to blight sickness or an enemy’s blow, depending on the storyteller), her unit took the necklace and gave it to the next unstable rogue assigned to them. And it still worked.

 

Maybe it’s a residual enchantment from a defensive rune Caridin carved into Malika’s carapace. Maybe it really is the spirit of Malika bound to the shard, guarding the bearer as she always has. Or maybe it’s just a distractingly weird shiny object that grabs an opponent’s attention. Whatever the reason, Malika still protects the bearer through this amulet, giving them an opening for the kill, but only if the bearer follows the sisters’ distinctive fighting style: “Grab ’em and gut ’em.”

*Yes, Malika did volunteer to become a golem with the special request that she be assigned back to Regsith’s unit so she could continue fighting alongside her sister.

Kayley Boothe
Item: Andraste’s Sacrifice (Unique Amulet)
Restrictions: Rogue or Mage only

• +10% Cool down Modifier
• Chance on hit: Taunt all enemies within 8 meters for 4 seconds
• The wearer of this amulet regenerates mana or stamina at a higher rate

Backstory: Inquisition scouts found this amulet in a burned-down chantry. A miracle that it was found at all, really: it was buried under fallen rafters and covered in ash. It could be that some brand of magic led them to it. All those who’ve held it have felt something strange in it. Like it’s taking all the mana in the air and bending it. The scouts gave it to a mage to see what she made of it; she said it felt like all the power in the world.

 

Funnily enough, immediately afterwards the company was set upon by wild dogs, and every animal went after the mage. Could be some kind of curse on it, but whatever it was, it made her terrifying to watch.

(The amulet gives the wearer vastly increased magical power, but this power draws the attention of all nearby hostiles. A mage wearing the amulet would be a force to be reckoned with, if he or she could stay alive long enough to benefit from it.)

Cat Stamps
Item: The Ring of Doubt (Unique Ring)
Restrictions: Mage only

• +20% Flanking Damage Bonus
• Enter stealth when not attacking during combat
• You are a deadly threat to any enemy that can’t see you coming. When you attack from stealth, you automatically land a critical hit.

Backstory: Created by a young Tevinter magister who was forced to wed to a woman with whom he was not enamored. The young magister cleverly enchanted his wedding ring with the power of invisibility, planning to slip away unnoticed as soon as the ring slipped on his finger. Unfortunately, the enchantment spell went awry and doubt of his very existence soon spread. Cursed with fat fingers, the mage was forced to live as a faint shadow of a person. He spent the last of his days pushing books off of cabinets and tripping people to prove his own existence.

Jayne Aeron
Item: Kitty’s Collar (Unique Amulet)

• -100% Damage Resistance (All)
• Guardian Spirit: Blocks one melee attack every 30 seconds
• On dying: 75% chance to heal for half health
• Resist a lethal strike once every 60 seconds.

Backstory: Honnleath is overrun with darkspawn.

 

A little girl watches through a crack in the front door as genlocks gut the butcher’s husband. She’s holding her breath and hoping she won’t be next, and maybe she won’t, because now the butcher turns her cleaver on the horde. She is strong and fast with the blade, knows just where to part each bone from its joint. The genlocks fall, one after another, and the little girl remembers to breathe.

 

But then an ogre crests the hill, and the butcher is torn in two. Amalia can’t stop from screaming, and fear builds fire in her palms. It doesn’t burn, yet it’s burning, flames flying through the only home she’s ever known, turning all to ash, and she knows she has to run, but it’s chaos. Darkspawn swarm in every direction. The sheep have escaped pens. The whole village is aflame, and it’s all her fault. Papa will be so, so angry.

 

Smoke forces her outside, and it takes a minute for Amalia to realize the sheep aren’t the ones bleating terror across the open square. No. It’s the shepherd boy who taught her to swim, it’s her auntie, it’s the baker, it’s the family next door. Maker have mercy, it’s the whole village.

 

Papa must never know.

 

So Amalia tears up the hill, unsteady on cobblestones slicked with blood, and straight into the heart of the scariest place she’s ever known: Grandpa Wilhelm’s basement where Papa warned her to never go. Because maybe, just maybe, even the darkspawn will be too scared to follow.

 

She doesn’t stop in the parlor, she doesn’t stop in the library, she doesn’t stop in the cellar, or until she’s thundering down the stairs to the lowest level, into the farthest corner, the darkest shadow, because maybe, just maybe, they won’t find her like they found the shepherd boy. Though to her ears, it sounds like they’re trying.

 

Amalia presses one hand over her mouth, then the other, choking back the sound of her crying. She can’t stop shaking, and she can’t stop seeing everything she saw.

 

And then there’s something warm and soft brushing against her leg, a wet nose bumping up under her chin, and a purr that rumbles louder than the darkspawn upstairs.

 

“Oh, Kitty,” she sobs, and no demon has ever been more glad of a name.

 

Amalia clutches the orange tabby to her chest and simply weeps. She’s delirious, hiccupping with terror as she babbles out every dreaded thought, every fear, every hope she thinks she’s lost. Kitty nuzzles her cheek and licks away the tears until she can’t help laughing, a sound it has never heard before but wants to hear again. It dips into her mind, holding wonder: what is a cookie?

 

Kitty has never seen the waking world beyond the basement walls, but this little thing has seen it all: a field, and a lake, and a forest; the sun, the moon, and the stars. And cookies! Candy, and Wintersend songs. Not echoed across the Veil, but real. Real.

 

It curls up in Amelia’s lap when she falls asleep, and it is enchanted by the slow rise and fall of her chest, the steady beat of her little heart—the bright, clean pool of her mana that makes it want to drink, and drink, and drink. It never knew humans could be so small or vulnerable or innocent; Wilhelm was large and powerful and cruel. She changes everything; there will be no returning to the Fade.

 

Wherever Amalia goes, Kitty will follow. Whoever Momma is, Kitty will find her. Whenever templars come, Kitty will stop them.

 

Whatever happens, Papa must never know.

 

Hours later, Amalia wakes with a start.

 

“Don’t be scared,” says Kitty. “I will keep you safe.”

 

Amalia’s eyes go round. “You can talk!”

 

“Of course I can talk. I am your grandfather’s magical cat.”

 

“Oh! I love you, Kitty!”

 

Beloved to a human girl. It is dizzy with joy, and the realization brims with promise, purpose. If it keeps Amalia safe, it need never be alone.

 

Never.

 

“Amalia,” it purrs, slitting its eyes to appraise what enchantments bar the door. “Would you like to play a game?”

[Owlfruit Potion]

Cool! Were any of those any of you guys? I think Andraste’s Sacrifice will probably be replacing my cooldown amulet in-game (Silverite plate-wearing Knight-Enchanter,* so the taunt is not a big deal), and the Kitty one could be very nice for an archer companion.

I'll get the ball rolling on sharing our non-winners (mine are all edited slightly from the versions I submitted because the contest fell during a busy week for me and I wasn't able to polish them as much as I'd have liked):

 

(under a cut because it's a long page already:)

 

Spoiler

Obligatory 10+ stupid jokes entry:

The Deadly Silence (ring)

* On Hit: Chance to spawn a toxic cloud at target location.
* Cowardice: All attacks you do deal 120% from behind your target but only 70% damage from the front.

Commissioned for the Marquis du Pétomane by his tutor, in commendation for having driven a plague of barking spiders from the Flatlands. After the Marquis passed, the ring's power went undetected by his heirs until too late, and it was dealt to a merchant in exchange for just ten barrels of smelt. Astute observers will note that this accessory is a work of art, but toxic nonetheless.

---

Entry from before I realized you were allowed to apply more than one effect to each item:

Signet of House Cordouanier (ring)

* Permaflame: All enemies around you are constantly burning and you have 5% bonus resistance to fire and you gain 10% bonus fire damage.

Confiscated from the apostate former Comtess Valérie Cordouanier upon her arrival at Aeonar, where she was imprisoned after a dozen guests at her winter ball burst into flames as she entered the Grand Ballroom. The Comtess continued to profess her innocence until her death, successfully hiding her magical ability during repeated tests throughout her imprisonment.

(Still not satisfied with how clearly it came across, even after editing it a bit, but the idea was that she wasn't really a mage at all; some political rival had cursed her signet ring with an effect similar to the uncontrolled powers of an untrained apostate in order to ruin her family and land her in Aeonar for the rest of her life. If I had a do-over on this one, I might add the "Whirlwind only" passive to make it extra creepy and/or +25 magic to add to the "framing someone non-magical as an apostate" angle.)

---

Entry that, in retrospect, probably wouldn't work well as an accessory, since a ranged character could cheese any non-ranged enemy to hell and back with it. If I'd known class restrictions were an option, I might have made it Warrior-only for that reason. But it would have made a rad dagger (or better yet, ludicrously huge maul)!

The Antivan Kite (amulet)

* Enter stealth when not attacking during combat
* X00% faster movement speed when in stealth [X = as high as technical concerns allow--should be fast enough to challenge player's reflexes / coordination]
* -25% attack
* -50 armor rating

This kite-cut dawnstone in an ornate but mangled golden setting once belonged to Lady Sofía Cremona of Antiva. The pendant was thought lost in 8:42 Blessed when a pickpocket who stole it from Lady Sofía at a seaside trattoria unexpectedly flew hundreds of yards out over the ocean during his escape.

 

(ETA: Flipped through random lists of French and Italian names for the last two, then only after submitting noticed the part in the rules about no proper names... I'm going to comfort myself by pretending they were DQ'd for that reason instead of just plain losing )

 

*(ADDITIONAL EDIT: actually, I was kind of expecting an item that worked really well for all classes except KEs since everyone complains about them being OP so much... I'm kind of surprised they added one that seems tailor-made for them.)

[thats1evildude]

Congrats to the winners.

I'm 0/3 for Bioware contests now. My writing, voice acting and item design have all been found deficient. I can't wait until they announce their next contest so I can maintain my losing streak and further crush my self-esteem.